Author Louise O’Neill named Cork Person of the Month

Best-selling author and Irish Examiner columnist Louise O’Neill, whose works have challenged society to consider and discuss rape culture and consent issues, has been named Cork Person of the Month.

Awards organiser Manus O’Callaghan, who presented the West Cork-based author of Asking For It with the August award, described her as one of the region’s bravest writers.

Louise is a feminist and very politically engaged,” he said. “She is one of Cork’s bravest and most honest writers as well as being a great writer. Her work is important for both young and old alike, and for both male and female.

Her name will now be included in the long-list of contenders for the Cork Person of the Year 2019 title, which will be announced next January.

Ms O’Neill, from Clonakilty, completed a Bachelor of Arts degree in English at Trinity College Dublin and a postgraduate qualification in fashion-buying at Dublin Institute of Technology, before landing a job as an assistant stylist for the senior director of Elle magazine in New York.

She decided to return home to write in 2012 and landed a publishing deal in 2014. Her first book, Only Ever Yours, featured girls raised in schools where they are trained to please men.

However, it was her book, Asking For It, which examined the aftermath of a rape at a house party and dealt with issues including rape culture, consent, and family disintegration, that has had the biggest impact so far.

She was described by The Guardian as “the best young adult fiction writer alive today”.

The book has spawned a TV documentary and a stage adaptation.

Its world premiere at the Everyman Theatre in Cork this summer left audiences shocked and deeply moved.

It will be staged in the Abbey Theatre in Dublin in November, and a film adaptation is also in pre-production.

Ms O’Neill also writes a weekly column for the Irish Examiner, covering topics such as gender politics, women’s rights, and challenging subjects such as anorexia and bulimia.

Previous Cork Person of the Month winners this year include author Conal Creedon and city librarian Liam Ronayne for their contribution to the cultural fabric of the city, Grand National winning jockey Davy Russell, medicinal cannabis campaigner Vera Twomey, and head of the Cork Sexual Violence Centre, Mary Crilly.